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I got the d&d working with pin DMD. Also hooked up plunger kit and Shake nudge. Although ST:TNG doesn't really show off the plunger, it should work on other tables. This won't be ready for PC launch, I had to do some hacks to get one table working, since I didn't have much time to get it working. It was also a bit hard to setup without the cabinet here to test how it looked. That'll be changing really soon.

The guys at virtual pin and pinDMD were really helpful in getting this up so quickly.

I got the d&d working with pin DMD. Also hooked up plunger kit and Shake nudge. Although ST:TNG doesn't really show off the plunger, it should work on other tables. This won't be ready for PC launch, I had to do some hacks to get one table working, since I didn't have much time to get it working. It was also a bit hard to setup without the cabinet here to test how it looked. That'll be changing really soon.

The guys at virtual pin and pinDMD were really helpful in getting this up so quickly.

Looks really great Mike! Glad that you were able to find the time to get a table up and running in time for the expo. Would it be easy for you guys to support using a third screen as a DMD instead of a real DMD? Also any thoughts (even if it might be way down the road) about having configurable support for force feedback and toys (contacts, LEDs, knocker, shaker motor, etc.)?

Number one thing is that this is very early. They literally just got the cab and haven't even had it back to the office yet. Menus are still in landscape and all that. The camera seems too far forward - you can see a bit of the top of the flippers. I'm sure they'll get it straightened out. The guy I talked to said it was very rough - but he seemed excited. He did mention something about how they weren't sure if it would be a separate game for cabinet mode yet.

By the way, it looks like the PS4 version on the cabinet. I noticed the cannons are white instead of pink.

Yep, can definitely tell. DirectX 11?

Still DX9, just did some lighting tweeks.

Originally Posted by Ripley

Hello Mr. Reitmeyer,

can you say something about the PC release? First half of October is over, will it come this month for sure?

Thanks in advance.

Plan is this month, hopefully with the release of the next table pack.

Originally Posted by Ark Malmeida

Looks really great Mike! Glad that you were able to find the time to get a table up and running in time for the expo. Would it be easy for you guys to support using a third screen as a DMD instead of a real DMD? Also any thoughts (even if it might be way down the road) about having configurable support for force feedback and toys (contacts, LEDs, knocker, shaker motor, etc.)?

Not sure what all would be involved. Not ruling out the possibility of adding support of those.

Originally Posted by Roo

Number one thing is that this is very early. They literally just got the cab and haven't even had it back to the office yet. Menus are still in landscape and all that. The camera seems too far forward - you can see a bit of the top of the flippers. I'm sure they'll get it straightened out. The guy I talked to said it was very rough - but he seemed excited. He did mention something about how they weren't sure if it would be a separate game for cabinet mode yet.

I can say that the real DMD looked awesome!

Not having it in the office made it hard to "guess" what it would look like.

Not sure what all would be involved. Not ruling out the possibility of adding support of those.

Thanks Mike - that answer is good to hear! As far as using a 3rd screen for the DMD instead of a real DMD, obviously I don't know what the code looks like, but I would think it would be just a matter of allowing output to another screen that is dedicated to the DMD which can be positioned and re-sized on that screen.

Definitely looking forward to seeing more once you guys get the cabinet back to the office (and they give you some free time)!

Too bad for the washed out colors on that lcd.... A nice plasma would make the game look 17923 times better!

They are not washed out in the flesh. That's the way the camcorder films it. In three years of reading forums in the virtual cabinet scene no-one has every said a plasma is better! Plus it would probably catch fire in a cab. LCD / LEDS are the best choice.

Well, that's a shame... With any lcd you get the off center contrast fade, plus the blacks aren't that great to begin with. People catch myths too easy! Modern palsmas are as thin as the thinnest led, most certainly don't catch fire and the picture quality is superior in any way.

They are not washed out in the flesh. That's the way the camcorder films it. In three years of reading forums in the virtual cabinet scene no-one has every said a plasma is better! Plus it would probably catch fire in a cab. LCD / LEDS are the best choice.

For some reason, this was washed out in real life, was there this morning and mentioned it also. When standing directly in front of the machine, it was not washed out. Not sure why, my friend has a virtual pin cab and it is not like that, and neither was the VP cab that virtua pin had on display either. Not sure if the monitor was bad or if just the settings need to be "tweaked" on Farsight cabinet.

We do know it has an actual DMD, but... how will alphanumerics be handled? I'm guessing that for those that had the displays on the backglass art it'll be on the backglass monitor, but for those where it's where a DMD generally is? Will it just simulate alphanumerics?

For some reason, this was washed out in real life, was there this morning and mentioned it also. When standing directly in front of the machine, it was not washed out. Not sure why, my friend has a virtual pin cab and it is not like that, and neither was the VP cab that virtua pin had on display either. Not sure if the monitor was bad or if just the settings need to be "tweaked" on Farsight cabinet.

That has to do with the quality and type of display that is being used, most lcd panels have an optimal viewing angle and if you deviate from that colors, gamma, ect becomes very inaccurate. Your friend's virtual pin cab is most likely using a display with a larger viewing angle than the one in farsight's cab

Got to play this a few times. Its pretty impressive for just being cobbled together for a first go. The only table running on it right now was ST:NG. It was pretty easy to pick up in this format with the physics I was accustomed to. The DMD was flawless as far as I could tell and the backglass looked nice. It'll be interesting to try this when nudging gets added.

The VirtuaPin vendor was right nearby running the Visual Pinball tables and they looked just as good and played fine too. I do wish the resolution was a bit higher on the tables but I know I would have loads of fun with the tables regardless.

I didn't get the sense pinball hobbiest saw PA as anything more than a curiosity. While I was there a few people who were not familiar with the product asked questions but didn't seem all that excited about it which is unfortunate.

We do know it has an actual DMD, but... how will alphanumerics be handled? I'm guessing that for those that had the displays on the backglass art it'll be on the backglass monitor, but for those where it's where a DMD generally is? Will it just simulate alphanumerics?

When using it with vPinMAME in Visual Pinball, it can display most alphanumeric displays quite nicely. I believe the PinDMD board that drives the DMD does some sort of conversion. Hopefully that will apply to Farsight's ROM emulation in the same way.

Originally Posted by Crawley

I didn't get the sense pinball hobbiest saw PA as anything more than a curiosity. While I was there a few people who were not familiar with the product asked questions but didn't seem all that excited about it which is unfortunate.

I've gotten that sense a little bit in the past, but there are certainly those who are interested. One guy who was there when I was didn't sound like he was familiar with it much beforehand but said he'd definitely buy a cabinet once the full TPA cabinet package was out. I think there are more and more people who are getting into real pinball because of pinball video games. I was one of them a few years ago. I think even if you own real pins there's an advantage to having 40+ other tables (including some rare ones) available digitally as well.

Originally Posted by Ark Malmeida

Also any thoughts (even if it might be way down the road) about having configurable support for force feedback and toys (contacts, LEDs, knocker, shaker motor, etc.)?

I have to say, today was the first time I played a lot of games with a shaker motor in them and it made a bigger difference than I thought. Got to play Metallica, AC/DC, Star Trek, Roadshow, Attack From Mars, Harley Davidson and Jurassic Park Lost World with one. I would definitely want to add one to my cab if TPA supported it.

Other things... they didn't have the nudging or plunger (not that STTNG uses it) working when I was there. They said it was working earlier but stopped at some point. Obviously they haven't really had a chance to work on it yet. They also mentioned that they'd like to do some backglass stuff, at least for the tables that need it like Scared Stiff and Taxi. (Fingers crossed for Banzai Run someday... )

I also got to play a demo of the PS4 version. The lighting on it was cool; as you guys know that will come to the PC version eventually. The PS4 controller is much-improved over the PS3 controller in my opinion, by the way.

I will say it was great talking to some of the Farsight employees today. You could tell they were really passionate about pinball and about what they were doing. I can't wait for the cabinet version of TPA!

I like plasma displays for their color accuracy, realistic flesh tones, and 600hz refresh rate. With that said, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, build a virtual pin cab with a plasma TV in the playfield. Plasma TVs must be mounted vertically or the display will be ruined. Use LED/LCD displays for the playfield as they can be used in that position.

When it comes to color accuracy in general, the display that fs had in the cab, may have needed to be calibrated or have the color mode set to a warmer setting. In the past, I used the Disney WOW Blu-ray TV calibration disc and I found it significantly improved the image quality, even on a new TV out of the box. My point is that, before you complain about inaccurate colors, make sure your display is properly calibrated before blaming the content source.

Im not 100% sold on the view point FS are using for the cab view, its the same view the VP tables used to use for cab view where basically its as if your looking directly down on the table from 90° so dead on, where the newer view is more at a 100-120° view and shows the actual side walls and back of the inside of the cab.

Kind of like the full table view the new Papa Pinball videos use

I think it makes it more authentic, jpsalas (one of VP best table builders) use this same viewpoint.....